Tying machine



Feb. 24, 1942. I BUNN 2,274,526

vTYING MACHINE Filed. Aug. 3, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 24, 1942. B. H. BUNN 2,274,526

TYING MACHINE Filed Aug. 3, 1940 e Shets-Sheet s Feb. 24, 1942. B. H. BUNN 2,274,526

TYING MACHINE Filed Aug. 3, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Feb, 24; 1942. B. H. BUNN 'mne maxim Filed Aug. :5, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Feb. 24, 1942. H, BUN 2,274,52

TYING MACHINE Filed Aug. 3,- 1940 6 Sheets-Shet 6 Patented Feb. 24, 1942 'rrmc momma Benjamin H. Bunn, Chicago,-Ill., assignor to B. II.

Bunn Company, Illinois Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Application August 3, 1940, Serial No. 350,258

15 Claims.

My invention relates to tying machines, and more especially to tying machines which cause a package or bundle to be encircled by the twine and which knot together the ends of the twine.

The present invention is concerned more especially with= the problem of tying a bundle in the shape of an annulus, such as a coil of wire or tubing, although the tying machine of my present invention may be used on conventionally shaped packages.

Further and more detailed objects, features and advantages of my present invention will best be understood as they are set forth in the following description of a specific embodiment thereof, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tying machine, showing an annular coil of wire resting on the table preliminary to being tied;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the upper part of the tying machine, taken on the lin 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the tying machine;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section, taken approximately on the line 22 of Fig. 1, butlooking in the opposite direction, but more specifically taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing the coil in the preliminary position of Fig. 1 and the machine in its normal position of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a view like Fig. 4, but showing the machine and the bundle in a later stage of the cycle;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section, taken on of the line 6-6 of Fig. 3; and

Figs. 7, 7A, and 7B are diagrammatical views of successive stages of the operation of the machine in tying a coil.

Referring to the front elevation, Fig. 3, my tying machine as illustrated is a floor model built upon a frame It. A flat table II extends across the top of the frame. ing l2 conveniently of a somewhat irregular shape, but in general longitudinally disposed along a front-to-back line. In the machine illustrated the opening l2 may be wholly isolated by the table rather than opening slotwise to a margin of the table. This is of advantage because the table top affords less obstructions to be caught by the fingers, clothing, or packages being tied.

As shown in Fig; 2, the tying and knotting mechanism is mounted beneath the table II in proximity to the opening I2. I shall not undertake to describe this mechanism in detail because it may be of the construction disclosed in my the plane prior patents, Nos. 2,182,959 of December 12, 1939, 1,994,453 of March 19, 1935, and 1,606,290 of November 9, 1926. Merely to identify some of the characteristic elements of this mechanism, Fig. 2 shows a .twine catcher button It, a draw slide M, a knotter beak IS, a tip-up arm It, a

stripper l1, and a cutter blade l8.

The above-mentioned knotter and associated elements are arranged to be actuated at appro priate times in the cycle of the machine through mechanism such as disclosed in my prior patents under the motive power of a motor i9 (Fig. 3)

under the control of a clutch 20, which is set into engagement to initiate the cycle of the machine by depressing a pedal 2|.

From a supply spool 22 of twine 23, carried at the bottom of the frame (Fig. 3), the twine is led through an adjustable tensioner 24 and upwardly along the right hand side of the frame to and through a twine hole in the top of a mast 25 rising to a considerable height above the level of the table, and thence leftward through a ring 28 at the upper left corner of a needle arm 21,

, down along the depending portion 210. of the arm, leftward horizontally through the hollow The table II has an opento the twine catcher 13, where the twine terminates.

The terminal of the twine has been anchored on the twine catcher I3 as the result of the last cycle of operation (Fig. 2). In this position the terminal reach of twine 23a extends more or less vertically between the offset end 21b of the twine arm or needle arm and the twine catcher or button 23, passing the plane of the table II through the opening l2, and the offset end 21b of the needle arm is a sufiicient distance above the table II to clear the height of a coil 28 or other package to be tied.

I shall first explain thefunction and path of the needle arm 21, and more especially its offset lower end 21b, in the cycle of the machine, and then, with its functions in mind, describe the mechanism for passing itthrough its path.

With the machine in its normal position and the terminal reach 23a of twine in the position described,-which is the normal position carrying over from the completion of the last cycle,- the coil 28 to be tiedis set upon or slid onto the table i8 anteriorly of the hole 12, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2. Preliminary to tying the coil, it is shifted forwardly to the dotted line position of Figs. 1 and 2. .The leading arc of the coil engages the terminal reach 23a of twine and pushes it forwardly so that the terminal reach assumes a V shape as viewed from the side (Figs. 2 and 7) with the leading arc of the coil in the bight of the V.

This causes the twine to lie about-although not necessarily snugly embrace-the front, the bottom, and the top of the leading arc of the coil, so that the leading are (or radial cross section) of the coil lies wholly forwardly (as regards the progress of the coil through the machine) of the transverse vertical plane of the twine catcher. In this normal position of the ll moves to the right (Fig. 2) to bring reaches machine the ofi'set end 21b of the needle armlies somewhat farther back than does the twine catcher l3.

After the coil has been pushed against the twine to the dotted line position of Figs. 1, 2, and "l, the operator depresses the pedal 2| to engage the clutch 20 and initiate the cycle of operation of the machine. This causes the offset end 21b of the needle arm to descend straight downwardly, passing behind the button l3 to a level below the button, and then forwardly to a position farther forward than the button.

In Figs. 4 and 7 this L-shaped movement of the ofiset end 21b of the needle arm between its full line position and its dotted line position is indicated by the dot and dash line 29. This descending and forward L-shaped movement, bringing the lower end of the needle arm to the full line positions of Figs. 5 and 7A, since it moves the twine in the front-to-back vertical 'plane of the twine button i3, wraps the twine around the back side of the button and anchors it, with the result that the terminal reach of twine is a loop, as shown in Fig. 5, extending around the back side of the twine button, around the cross section of the annulus, and back around the back side of the button.

The needle arm rests in this down-and-forward position of'Fig. 5 while the twine is knotted and severed. Then the twine arm resumes its movement, rising straight up to its original elevation, and then passing rearwardly to its original position, following the L-shaped path indicated by the dot and dash line 30 in Figs. 5 and 7A.

The initial or downward-and-forward L- shaped path 29 of the twine guiding end of the needle arm not only passes the twine around the twine catcher Hi to anchor it at an intermediate point, but it also completes the encirclement of the coil by the twine, which, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, was only partially accom- ,lished by pushing the coil forwardly into the twine.

The arrangement and disposition of the twine, and the downward and forward direction in which the reach of twine extends from the twine catcher to the end of the twine arm in the position of Fig. 5 at the end of the first L-shaped path traversed by the twine arm, is essentially the same as shown at the commencement of the knotting operation in my previously mentioned patents, although in those patents the needle arm was in the form of a crank, the end of which traveled in a circular path. As soon as the needle arm has reached its downward and forward position of Fig. 5, the knotting phase of the cycle is initiated, Just as in my pre viously mentioned patents as soon as the cranklike twine arm has completed its circular orbit to wrap the twine about the bundle and anchor it at a second point of the twine upon the twine catcher, the knotting phase of the cycle is initiated. In this knotting phase, the draw slide of twine into parallelism beneath the knotter beak, the tip-up arm I6 is raised to lift one of the reaches upwardly from beneath the beak, the knotter beak rotates about its vertical axis to loop the parallel reaches of twine about the horizontally extending beak, then, toward the completion of the turn, the jaws of the beak open to receive the parallel reaches of the twine, the jaws close upon the twine and move backwardly, while the stripper II pushes the encircled twine 'ofi" the beak, the jaws pull the loop through the ensmalling loop being stripped from the beak, to form the knot; following which the cutter l8 severs one reach of the twine.

The knotting then being completed, the final phase of the cycle of the machine is to move the offset lower end of the needle arm through its upward and rearward L-shaped path 30, to return it to its normal position. Then, the clutch is automatically discontinued to close the cycle of operation. As soon as the package is moved forwardly, the twine end which was originally frictionally anchored to the twine catcher is pulled loose therefrom. This leaves the new end of the twine anchored on the twine catcher.

In tying an ordinary package--a bundle of rods, for example-the completion of the cycle, with a shifting of the package to pull the originally anchored twine end loose, quite frees the package from the machine and remaining twine. But when the package being tied is an annulus, such as the coil 28 illustrated, the completion of the first cycle leaves the terminal reach 23a of twine-between the twine catcher and needle arm-extending up through the center of the coil. Another tie must be made to free the coil from the machine. This is mentioned for the sake of claritynot because it is any objection. In fact, in practically all cases, at least two diametrically opposite ties would be desirable-or more likely four at ninety degree intervals.

Therefore, the operator pushes the coil forward until the controlling arc of the coil pushes the twine forwardly in the same manner as the leading arc did in the first tie. Then the operator presses the pedal M to initiate a second cycle. At the completion of the second cycle the terminal reach of twine 23a passing upwardly from its end anchorage to the twine catcher, is without the coil, and the coil is free of the machine and remaining twine.

One advantage of this type of twine wrapping, where the wrapping is partially accomplished by pushing the package forwardly into the twine and merely completed by a twine arm-as distinguished from the twine arm passing around the package to rotate the twine-is that the package when wrapped (or, in the case of a coil, after the second wrap is made to free the package) the tied package can be shifted The post 49 is slidably, but non-rotatablm,

sprocket-by a pinion driven by a large mutilated gear. For driving my present needle type non-rotating twine arm through its rectangular orbit, I prefer to employ a similar pinion 3| and mutilated gear 32. f I

Through the clutch 29, the motor l9 will, during a cycle of operation, turn a drive shaft 33, carrying a drive pinion 34. This engages a continuous band of peripheral teeth on the gear 32, so that the gear 32, and the control shaft 35 to which it is fixed, rotatewhile the clutch is in engagement.

The gear 32 and its shaft '35 make one complete revolution (in the directions indicated in Figs. 4 and 6) in each cycle of the machine. Th clutch 23 is engaged by depressing the pedal 2| and it is automatically disengaged, when the gear 32 has completeda revolution, by mechanism such as disclosed in my mentioned patents.

In Figs. 4 and 6 the parts are shown in the normal position in which they rest between cycles. When the pedal is tripped to initiate the cycle, the gear'32 starts to rotate.

The peripheral teeth on the gear 32 are of double width affording two bands. One hand is in the plane of the drive shaft pinion-34 and in that band the teeth are unmutilated. The other journaled in bearings 50 which are a part ofa band is in the plane of the driven pinion 3| and the teeth in that band are interrupted. Adjoining the last mentioned band the gear has an untoothed extended rim 35 divided into arcuate sections 36a and 36b divided by gaps 36c and 36d. The driven pihion 3| carries diametrically opposed pairs 31a and 31b of rollers; The rollers lie in the vertical plane of the rim sections 35. In the normal position, as shown in Fig. 6. the spaced rollers 31a. ride upon the rim section 36a and thereby hold the driven pinion 3| against rotation.

As the gear 32 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 6, the rollers 31a hold the pinion 3| against rotation and the teeth of the gear 32 are not in engagement with the driven pinion 3| because the teeth of the gear 32 in that band are interrupted or absent between the points 38 and 33. Therefore, during the first ninety degrees of rotation of the gear 32, the driven pinion 3| remains stationary.

Now referring to Fig. 4, which shows the other side of the gear 32, the side face of the gear contains a cam channel 43. A roller 4| rides in the cam channel 43. The roller 4| is carried at the end of an arm 42 pivoted to the frame 43. The roller arm 42 also carries a pin 44 working in a slot 45 man elevating arm 43 pivoted to the frame at 41.

During the first ninety degrees of rotation of the gear 32, and while the driven pinion 3| remains stationary as explained, the roller 4|,

carriage 5|. The carriage 5|, in turn, has an upper bearing 52 and a pair of spaced lower bearings 53, whereby it is slidably journaled for frontto-back horizontal reciprocation upon upper and lower rods 54 and 55. The rods 54 and 55 are fixed at their ends to brackets 56 on the frame It.

The vertical reciprocation of the post 49 in the bearings 53 of the carriage 5| allows for up and down movement of the needle and, while the shifting of the carriage 5| along the horizontal rods 54 and 55, provides for front-to-back horizontal shifting of the needle arm.

I have now described how, during the first ninety degrees of rotation of the gear 32, the needle arm is given the downward movement along the long leg of its L-shaped path 23. The L-shaped path is next completed by forward shifting of the needle arm.

The first ninety degreesof rotation of the gear 32 has brought the point 39 up to engagement with the driven pinion 3|. The initial tooth at 39 is made double size for greater strength and, as shown in Fig. 4, the tooth which it initially contacts in the driven pinion 3| is similarly made double size with the double gap adjoining to accommodate the double tooth at 39 on the gear 32. I

Thus, when the initial tooth at 33 on the gear 33 comes into engagement with the pinion 3|, it

will start to turn the latter. The rollers 31a will no longer preclude rotation because they pass ofi the rim section 38 into the gap 36c. The peripheral teeth of the gear 32, which lie in the band in -the plane of the driven-gear 3| extend between the point 39 and the point 51, which is enough to give the pinion 3| one-half turn. Beyond the point 51, the pinion-engaging teeth are again interrupted, but the rim section 36b starts at the point 51. Thus, as soon as the driven pinion 3| has completed a half revolution, the other pair of rollers 31b ride onto the rim section 331) again to hold the pinion 3| against rotation. This half rotation of the driven pinion 3|, by virtue of a link 58, connected at one end eccentrically. at 59 to the driven pinion 3| and connected at its other end by a pivot 60 to the carriage 5|, causes the carriage, and hence the post 49 and needle arm 41, to be shifted to the left (Fig. 4). I

This brings the needle arm to the position of I Fig. 5, and brings the point 51 of the gear 32 traveling in the channel 43, will be shifted from 1 the minor radius of the channel to the major radius. This will cause the arm 45 to swing downwardly and, by the connecting link 48, will shift the vertically journaled needle arm post 49 to its downward position, whereupon the roller arm 46, link 48 and post 49 will assume their position of Fig. 5 (although Fig. 5 shows the gear 32 progressed through somewhat more than ninety degrees).

The needle arm post 49 is square in crossesece tion, to-prevent its rotation. The mounted and of the needle arm 21a is fixed in the uppenend of the post 43 and extends horizontally therefrom, as shown in Fig. 3.

to the top. The gear 32 can then swing through an arc of almost one hundred eighty degrees until the point 6| comes to the top. During the interval that arc 51 to SI passes through the topmost point, the needle arm is held in the position of Fig. 4 because the pinion 3| cannot turn to shift the needle arm horizontally, being held by the rollers 31b riding on the rim section 35b. Nor can the needle arm be shifted vertically, because its vertical position is controlled by the roller 4| which is then traveling through the long major arc of the cam channel 43. It is during the one hundred and fifty-five or one hundred sixty degrees of movement of the gear 32, after the point 51 reaches the topmost point, that the previously outlined knotting operations are being performed. Cams and like mechanism at the other end of the shaft 35, which rotates with the gear 32, cause appropriate movement of the several elements involved in the knotting By the time these knotting operations have been completed, by mechanism at the other side of the machine, the roller 4| will have completed traversing the major arc of the cam channel 40, and then will start swinging into the minor arc. During this swinging, 'the arm 46 will be swung up to raise the needle arm to its upper elevation. This raising of the needle arm will be completed when the roller ll reaches the minor radius of the cam channel 40, which will be when the point SI of the gear 32 (referring again to Fig. 6) reaches the top.

When the point SI of the gear 32 reaches the top, the pinion 3| engages the teeth in its path which are carried on the gear 32 between the points 6| and 38. This turns the driven pinion 3| through the other half of its rotation, the rollers 31b then swinging into the gap 36d. By the time the point 38 has reached the top, the other half of the revolution of the pinion 3| will have been completed and the pair of rollers 31a will be back in contact with the rim section 36a.

It will be observed that there are a few degrees of separation between the point 38 of the gear 32 and the top point of the gear 32 when in its normal position of Fig. 6. These few degrees represent some overrun, and are calculated as a margin of safety to make sure that the rotation of the pinion 3| will have been completed and that both rollers 31a are upon the rim section 36a.

During the second half of the rotation of the driven pinion 3|, the link 58 is reciprocated back to its original position, giving the needle arm its rearward shift to complete its rectangular orbit.

I might mention that the reason for the lateral offset 31b at the lower end of the needle arm 21 is that the twine must be placed in the vertical plane of the twine catcher l3, and therefore the end of the needle arm through which the twine is discharged must operate in that plane. But if the depending portion 21a of the arm were also in that plane, it would interfere with the twine catcher 13; therefore, it is shifted to the right (Fig. 3) enough to clear the twine catcher.

Although I have illustrated and described this specific embodiment of my invention, I contemplate that many changes and substitutions may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A twine tying machine comprising a package supporting table, knotting mechanism and a twine catcher below the table, a depending twine arm having a twine pay-out lower terminal normally parked at package clearance distance above the table with the terminal reach of twine extending downwardly from the terminal through the plane of the table to end anchorage on the twine catcher, means for mounting the twine arm and for moving its terminal through a vertically elongated orbit about the twine catcher in the vertical front-to-back plane thereof, and power driven means for actuating the twine arm moving means to pass the terminal through its orbit and in timed relation thereto for actuating the knotting mechanism while the terminal is near the bottom of its orbit to knot together the ends of a terminal reach of twine encircling a package on the table.

2. A twine tying machine comprising a package-supporting table, a knotting mechanism and a twine catcher below, the table, a depending twine arm having a twine pay-out lower terminal normally parked at package clearance distance above the table with a terminal reach of twine extending downwardly from the twine arm terminal through the plane of the table to an anchorage on the twine catcher, means for mounting the twine arm and for moving its terminal through a vertical orbit in a front-to-back plane to pass the twine about, and anchoringly engage the twine on, the twine catcher, and means for actuating the twine arm moving means and, in timed relation to the orbital movement of the twine arm, for actuating the knotting mechanism to knot together the ends of a package-encircling reach of twine.

3. A twine tying machine according to claim 21, wherein the twine arm mounting means is disposed at one side or the terminal and package position, and the twine arm extends laterally between its supporting means and its terminal.

4. A twine tying machine according to claim 2, wherein means for mounting the twine arm and for moving its terminal through a vertical orbit comprises a fixed way, a carriage mounted to reciprocate on the fixed way, a second way on the carriage, and a twine arm support mounted to reciprocate on the carriage-carried way, the two ways extending in vertical front-to-back planes but at right angles to each other, whereby to cause the twine arm to traverse a generally rectangular orbit.

5. A twine tying machine comprising a package supporting table, knotting mechanism and a twine catcher below the table, a twine placing device having a depending twine arm laterally ofiset from the vertical front-to-back plane of the twine catcher and having a twine pay-out lower terminal extending into said plane and normally parked at package clearance distance above the table with the terminal reach of twine extending downwardly from the terminal through the plane of the table to end anchorage on the twine catcher, means for mounting the twine arm and for moving its terminal through a vertically elongated orbit about the twine catcher in a vertical front-to-back plane thereof with a pause, near the bottom of the orbit after the twine has been anchored on the twine catcher at the other end of a terminal'reach of twine encircling a package on the table, before completing the upstroke of the orbit, and power driven means for actuating the twine arm moving means and for actuating the knotting mechanism during the pause to knot together the ends of the encircling. reach.

6. A twine tying machine according to claim 1, wherein the orbit is rectangular.

7. A twine tying machine according to claim 5, wherein the orbit is rectangular withtheface of the orbit between the starting point and the pause point being L shaped and from the pause point back to the starting point being complementarily L shaped.

8. A twine tying machine according to claim 1, wherein the orbit is rectangular and the twine arm mounting and moving means comprises a horizontal way, a carriage mounted for sliding movement on the way, a post slidably mounted for vertical reciprocation on the carriage, and carrying the twine arm; and means for sliding the carriage upon its way and for reciprocating the post in the carriage.

9. A twine tying machine according to claim 1, wherein the orbit is rectangular and the twine arm mounting and moving means comprises a horizontal way, a carriage mounted for sliding movement on the way, a post slidably mounted for vertical reciprocation on the carriage, and carrying the twine arm, and means operating alternately to shift the carriage on its Way and to shift the post in the carriage.

10. The method of tying twine about radial sections of an annulus which consists in anchoring an end of the twine on a twine catcher beneath a table and passing the terminal reach of twine up through the plane of the table to be held by the pay-out terminal of a twine arm at annulus clearance distance above the table, supporting the annulus on the table, shifting the annulus forwardly into the normal line of the terminal reach of twine to deflect the twine forwardly until the leading arc of the annulus is forward of the original line of the reach but the trailing arc of the annulus is back of the original line, passing the pay-out terminal downwardly back of the twine catcher and then forwardly to anchor the terminal reach of twine at a second point to form an annulus encircling reach of twine anchored at both ends to the twine catcher, then knotting together the ends of the encircling reach and severing the twine short of its second anchorage, whereby the second anchorage anchors the new end of the twine, passing the payout terminal upwardly and backwardly to its original position whereby the new terminal reach of twine extends from its anchorage on the twine catcher upwardly through the central opening of the annulus to the pay-out terminal and repeating said movements of the pay-out terminal and the knotting and severing, in conjunction with a similar forward shifting of the annulus to tie the twine about the trailing arc of the annulus and to leave the terminal reach of twine extending, without the annulus, between the anchorage and the pay-out terminal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the pay-out terminal is caused to pass through a vertically elongated rectangular orbit in the front-to-back plane of the twine catcher.

12. A twine tying machine comprising a frame, a knotting mechanism, a twine catcher, a twine arm with a pay-out terminal, and means for moving the pay-out terminal through a rectangular path to lay the twine about the twine catcher, the last-mentioned means comprising a horizontal way carried by the table, a carriage slidably mounted on the way, a twine arm support slidably mounted for. vertical reciprocation in the carriage, a shaft, a cam on the shaft, an arm pivoted to the frame and actuated by the cam and connected to the twine arm support to cause it to reciprocate vertically, a gear driven in timed relation to the cam, a pinion engaged by the gear, and means connecting the carriage to the pinion to reciprocate the carriage upon its way by rotation of the pinion, the gear having teeth which are interrupted whereby the gear rotates the pinion intermittently.

13. A twine tying machine according to claim 12, wherein the recited cam and gear are constructed and arranged for successively shifting the carriage in one horizontal direction, shifting the twine arm support in one vertical direction, shifting the carriage in the opposite horizontal direction, and shifting the support in the opposite vertical direction.

14. A twine tying machine comprising a package supporting table, knotting mechanism and a twine catcher below the table, a twine arm, an

upstanding support for the twine arm movably mounted at one side of the table with the twine arm extending therefrom over to a mid region above the table, a depending arm on the twine arm offset to one side of the vertical frontto-back plane of the twine catcher, a pay-out terminal on the lower end of the twine arm laterally offset into said plane, an opening in the table through which the twine arm passes, and means for shifting the support to pass the payout terminal through a vertically elongated orbit in a front-to-back vertical plane with the orbit extending from package clearance distance above the table down through the plane of the table to encircle the twine catcher and lay the twine thereabout.

15. A twine tying machine according to claim 14, wherein the shifting mechanism causes the terminal to pause near the bottom of its orbit after it has laid the twine partially about the twine catcher to anchor the twine thereto, and wherein there are means for actuating the knotting mechanism-before the terminal completes its orbit.

' c BENJAMIN H. BUNN. 

